COVID-19 accentuates isolation of Spain's homeless

Nasir, 37, a homeless man from Pakistan, sleeps in an empty street in Barcelona. While Spanish authorities tell the public that staying home is the best way to beat the coronavirus pandemic, some people are staying out because home has come to mean the streets of Madrid and Barcelona.

A homeless man covered with a blanket sleeps in an empty street in Barcelona. Spain, which ranks fourth worldwide among the countries with the most virus cases, is under a government-imposed lockdown that has closed stores, emptied office buildings and left cities largely deserted, day and night.

In typically bustling Barcelona, figures with boxes and blankets, mattresses or tents, punctuate the eerie emptiness. The bare sidewalks and doorways of shuttered shops where they bed down during a national health emergency accentuate the isolation of the city’s homeless population, of about 1,000. | Above: Boris, 42, a homeless man from Bulgaria, sleeps under a blanket in the street in Barcelona.

Homeless man Gana Gutierrez sits in an empty street in Barcelona, Spain. "It is as if there has been a nuclear explosion and they are all sheltering in the bunker. Only us, the homeless, are left out " explains 36-year-old Gana, who has lived on the street for more than 8 years and comments that the slogan. "quedateencasa" (Stayathome) is only for those who have a roof over their heads but not for them.

Riccardo, 32, sits in empty arcades in downtown Barcelona. "I thought I had seen everything during all these years sleeping in the street, but no. This silence on the street all day scares me... more than the virus itself ..." says Riccardo, 32, who has been sleeping on the street for more than 10 years.

Authorities are scrambling to get as many homeless people off the streets without cramming them into a group shelter, where the risk of getting infected with the virus could be even greater. | Above: A man covered with a blanket sleeps in an empty street in Barcelona.

Those sleeping rough in Barcelona agree on one thing: panhandling for money or food is pointless now because there’s nobody around to give them anything. | Above: A blanket is used by a homeless man as a shelter in the corner of a square in downtown Barcelona.

Jose sleeps in the street in downtown Barcelona, Spain. Jose, 27, has been sleeping in the street for 5 years and is convinced that the Spanish army will put all the beggars of the city in tents "I refuse! I am not going to be infested with the virus anywhere, I am safe here in the arcade".

Kevin, 32, from France, plays guitar in front of a supermarket in Barcelona, Spain. Kevin, who has slept on the streets of Barcelona for the last 4 years said "I used to earn enough money to eat every day, now I don't get even one meal a day. Now I play the guitar just for me as nobody is in the street".

Javier Redondo, 40, covers his head with his hands as he waits for alms on an empty street in Barcelona. While authorities are telling people to stay at home, others as Javier are having to stay on the street - because they have no choice. "I am not afraid of the virus because my physical condition is very good. If I caught the virus, my body would expel it as if it were a gastroenteritis", Javier said.

A homeless woman pushes a cart with her belongings as she walks along an empty street in downtown Barcelona.

A man from sub-Saharan Africa covers himself with clothes and blankets as he sits on a bench at an empty car park outside the train station in Barcelona.

A man from sub-Saharan Africa sleeps in an empty street in downtown Barcelona.